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Saturday, May 31, 2008

Mud, Trails, Friends

4am, alarm, the window is open and I can hear that familiar sound of slow, steady rain. Wow, the forecasters actually got it right this time. The trails were dry, but not after this all-night rain. Question: if it were the morning of the Buckeye Trail 50K on July 19th and it was raining, wouldn't you still get up and go? Absolutely! This day was no different and by the looks of things a few hours later, many others thought the same thing. By the time I hit the road to meet my running buds at the Boston Store, the rain was tapering off and ended by the time we hit the trails. 3 hours later the sun was out. From 6 - 6:30, Melissa, Brett and I got in a few extra miles before the 6:30 group showed up (see pic above) then we headed to Brandywine Falls. We knew the water crossing would be a wet crossing today with all the rain and we were right. Shoes were totally immersed but thanks to SmartWool, no worries! Once we got back to the Boston Store, we headed to Pine Lane. Yea, this is the winter BT50K course. On the way out there, we passed 3 or 4 running groups. I honestly have never seen so many folks on the trails outside of an actual event. It was great to see so many out today. Yes, the trails were muddy but you know how green everything gets after a rain? It was gorgeous, then the sun starting shining through the leaves. Man, I love those trails! All-in-all, 16 miles racked up in 2hrs, 50min. Pretty happy since this wrapped up my recovery week from the Buffalo Marathon last Sunday. I had taken Monday off, did 4.5 on Tuesday, Wednesday/Thursday off, 7.5 on Friday, then the 16 today. The pic to the right is Bob and me after the run. Bob is also running Burning River this August...his first 100-miler.

Now it's time to grab some grub. I just got done spending the last 7 hours mulching...and getting a pretty good sunburn on my back.

Oh yea, I'm very near registering for the Mountain Masochist 50 Mile Trail Run in Lynchburg, VA on Saturday, November 1st. That's 3 months after Burning River and one month after the Akron Marathon. If you'd like to carpool and share a room down there, let me know. From what I hear, this is one of the best ultras in the eastern United States....now in it's 26th year.